Casino Tropez Clarifies In von Brunn Case

On June 10 one James W. von Brunn entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington and killed a security guard Steven Johns. The Internet community was quick to locate von Brunn's web site, which was racist in nature. Specifically it was filled with anti-Semitic and white supremacist sentiments. It also carried an affiliate banner for Casino Tropez. A lot of persons needlessly put the two together and concluded that von Brunn had some sort of interest in Casino Tropez. This issue occupied so much space on online casino message boards that Casino Tropez felt compelled to issue a formal clarification.

Casino Tropez said that it did not condone "the extremist views or violent actions" of Mr. von Brunn. Casino Tropez is promoted by Euro Partners and the communiqué stated that Euro Partners was unaware of the Casino Tropez banner on Mr. von Brunn's site since it was obtained through a third party network. Casino Tropez added that the banner on Mr. von Brunn's website was against Euro Partner policy for two reasons. The first is that Euro Partners does not promote its brands through American web sites. The second is that Euro Partners forbids the advertisement of its brands alongside offensive or illegal materials.

Euro Partners issued an independent statement as well through its public relations representative. It too distanced itself from the views of von Brunn. Also it offered condolences to the family of the security guard who lost his life in the incident. The more relevant part of the statement was as follows. "Euro Partners is the world's largest e-Gaming affiliate program, working in association with thousands of affiliate partners. Considering the nature of the Internet, it is possible for individuals not affiliated with the program to use our marketing materials in a manner that violates the policies we endorse and it is beyond our control to monitor all online activity in relation to our brands."

Even before the statements from Casino Tropez and Euro Partners, the online gambling community had expressed outrage at the linking of von Brunn and Casino Tropez by a few media outlets that wanted to sensationalize the issue. One message pointed out that Casino Tropez was a Playtech online casino and Playtech is an Israeli company. von Brunn would have to be seriously mental to promote this online casino given his hateful views. Another regular at message boards expressed the need for affiliate programs to police their affiliates more stringently. The Euro Partners statement has already pointed out that this would be a next to impossible task. In general the tenor was strongly against those who made a mountain out of a molehill.